"The extension enables you to convert your animation to HTML5 with one click," said Esteban de la Canal, a Google programmer, in a blog post today. "The extension is available for both Mac and Windows, and it uses Swiffy as a Web service, so you'll always get our latest and greatest conversion."

Although the vast majority of browsers on personal computers have Flash Player installed, it's a rarity on mobile devices, especially because it's banned altogether from Apple's iOS. Last week, Adobe announced it's scrapping the mobile version of Flash Player, a move that raises the profile of tools to convert Flash content into Web-standard content.

One of the biggest issues with making Web-standard content is the relative immaturity of the developer tools. Flash Pro, though, is well established and widely used.

"One of our main aims for Swiffy is to let you continue to use Flash as a development environment, even when you're developing animations for environments that don't support Flash," de la Canal said.

The W3C's new HTML5 logo stands for more than just the HTML5 standard.
W3C

About the author

Stephen Shankland has been a reporter at CNET since 1998 and covers browsers, Web development, digital photography and new technology. In the past he has been CNET's beat reporter for Google, Yahoo, Linux, open-source software, servers and supercomputers. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces.
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